Google’s Customer Match Lists

Google’s Customer Match Lists

12 May 2022 |

Data, Insights, Privacy

What are customer match lists?

Customer Match is a tool produced by Google that allows advertisers to leverage both online and offline data to reach and re-engage with their customers. Using identifying customer information, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and home addresses, Customer Match allows advertisers to target existing customers, and those with similar behaviours to them, across Google Search, Shopping, Gmail, Youtube and Display. Essentially, this tool allows advertisers to create audiences of users who are more likely to convert.

 

This is not a new tool – in fact, it’s been around since 2015. However, according to a recent announcement by Google, Customer Match lists will begin playing a larger role in the process of automated bidding across Google Ads.

 

What’s changing?

According to an announcement made earlier in May, Google is planning on further leveraging customer Match lists across its platform. Starting in H2 2022, these lists will be used to inform Smart Bidding and Optimised Targeting on the ad platform. This change will apply to Video, Shopping, Performance Max, Search and Discovery campaign types. 

 

As it currently stands, advertisers need to manually apply customer match lists to their campaigns. After this update, the platform will be able to use all Customer Match lists in your account to enhance the performance of your campaign and allow Google to optimise towards reaching your advertising goals. 

 

What does this mean for advertisers? 

 

This change represents another move by Google to increase automation and machine learning across their advertising platform. Considering that Google is phasing out cookie-based re-marketing, this change has the potential to make it easier for advertisers to forge privacy-safe connections with their customers across Google’s network. 

 

However, if advertisers don’t want to utilise their Customer lists to inform their targeting, they will be able to opt-out of the change. They can do this by opting out entirely, or by removing specific lists that they don’t want to be used to inform their targeting. Reach out to your ADMATICian for more information.